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Easing against both the couch and Beau, Klaus's thumb idly strokes the other's shoulder as the The Sadness continues. He should probably just get up an stop the video so Beau could have his sanity back, but Klaus was selfish and this was the most physical contact he'd had with anyone in months.
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Perhaps fortunately for Beau, Klaus is well acquainted with the movie's plot, and his free hand moves to cover Beau's eyes when the next violent scene plays out across the screen; he offers a soft shush as he does so, promising, "Your turn to trust me." He only removes his hand with the scene changes and blood is no longer scattered across the screen.
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"Movie's almost over," he promises quietly.
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He really doesn't want to leave when it ends.

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Klaus arches his eyebrow as Marianne flusters and begins to defend the Galarian monarchy. He continues to look unimpressed as she assures him of the man in question's philanthropic work and bites out a clipped, "Sure," in response.
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What follows, however, is not what he expected. What he expected was a pointed no - and then he'd buy the girl her drinks and leave because his skin already felt too tight on his frame. Instead what he comes face to face with is a ranting Marianne and a beer almost thrown in his face.
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"Listen," he begins, his voice constricted with confusion. He stops abruptly as he starts, his finger lifting to tell Marianne to wait while he pulls out his phone - hopefully she decides not to follow throw on that beer throwing.
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His thumbs tap over his phone's screen, and a few minutes later he lets out a strangled laugh as he realises his mistake. "Wrong status," he manages. "I set the wrong status. That's - that's on me. I'm an asshole."
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He looks pale and miserable as Marianne makes to leave, his slender frame slumping back into his seat as he looks up at the ceiling. "I'm -meeting a - guy - later," Klaus offers awkwardly, his throat skewed up tight. "We're like. Friends, I guess. I don't know what we are. It's whatever. I was -" his voice falters and he merely goes silent as he peels himself back into a seated position and he gives up on explaining himself.
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"I'll pay for your taxi. Sorry about... all of this."

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Lounging on the couch like he belongs there, one arm thrown over the back hapazardly, Klaus catches Beau's almost nervous glance during the beginning of the movie. He flashes a wide smile.
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It doesn't take long - there's a beat of darkness on the screen, and then a jumpscare that sends Beau running into his arms just as he'd planned. Klaus doesn't immediately say anything as Beau buries his face; instead, he slips his arm from the back of the couch to curl around Beau's shoulders and carefully pulls him closer.
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"It can't hurt you," Klaus murmurs reassuringly as he leans down, his lips brushing Beau's ear as he speaks. He blushes faintly, his arm keeping tightly around Beau's shoulders, and doesn't move.

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He should really offer to help, but Klaus instead watches Beau stack their plates into tidy enough piles. His mouth hitches into a half-apologetic smile and he grumbles a good natured, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever," as Beau ribs him about trust.
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Standing, his hands shoving into the pouch of his hoodie, he fiddles with the small pokeball hidden there as he follows Beau into the living room. He hovers near the doorway of the kitchen as he watches Beau sit on the couch and dig for a remote.
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Klaus muses that he may or may not have used horrific movie nights with dates in the past to good effect. This was certainly his chance to back out now. Or he could find out if Beau was as much of an absolute baby about gore as he was hinging on.
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"It's only an hour and a half long," he assures Beau with a smile that, under any other circumstance, might have been reassuring.
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He plops down on the couch beside Beau - not too far away but far enough to be considered polite - and waits.

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Klaus stares at the stack of pancakes placed before him, his gaze only lifting when the butter and bottle of syrup make an appearance. He offers an awkward shrug at Beau's words and mutters a quiet, "It's fine, whatever."
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Moving finally, he places a slab of butter on the pancakes and then douses them with syrup. Hesitating for a bare moment - he's pretty sure he didn't see Beau throw anything in that could kill him in one fell swoop - Klaus cuts off a piece of pancake with the edge of his fork and takes a bite.
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"This is really good!" he says, somewhat shocked and somewhat relieved at the same time. He tucks into his meal, the plate soon empty safe for some splotches of syrup. "Thanks for-" Klaus trails off as he considers the time, and then offers with a half-smile, "I guess this is dinner for me."
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"Are you still up for the movie?" He didn't want to impose; except he totally did.

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"Fucking shit," Klaus exclaims in surprise as a pancake lands on the floor, his eyes wide. His trust is Beau's cooking plummeting in an instance, he eyes the man dubiously as a new pancake is formed in the skillet.
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He flushes somewhat at the memory of said date and shakes his head, looking away. "It was just shit," Klaus replies - mumbles really - while looking embarrassed. "I made an ass out of myself."
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Shrugging away his thoughts, he says instead, "You sure you know what you're doing over there?" The last thing he wanted was food poisoning. "I can help?"

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"Yes," Klaus says a touch blankly as he watches Marianne's expression. She clearly didn't like beer. Why was she drinking it?
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His expression blanks further and he then scoffs at the mention of royalty. Flippantly, Klaus replies, "Hoenn is a democracy, who cares what those inbred fucks are doing." He pauses as his words catch up with him, and he carefully adds for Marianne's benefit, "I'm sure he's like. Nice or whatever. Yeah. And the exbibit's great."
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Klaus pinches at his eyes for a moment and draws a deep breath before he says more than asks, "We're not fucking tonight, are we?"

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Overqwil splash about the area like those squid-people through paint from so me game Klaus vaguely remembers but certainly never played. He sits comfortably on his Lapras, chin perched on one of the Pokemon's spikes from her shell as they both eye the hoard of inky-and-cream fish; he gives a sudden squeal of shock one a small Qwilfish slams into his leg.
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Flailing, Klaus manages to toss a pokeball after the offending Pokemon followed by a slew of curses unfit for polite company.
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Well, Klaus could at least appreciate another beer drinker, even if she was as fidgety as he was. Their drinks are delivered to them quickly and as Klaus wraps his hands around the chilled mug his brow furrows minutely.

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She knew his profession.

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What the fuck was hers?

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Scanning his memory, he comes up wholly blank as to what was on her profile. He was just hoping for a quick lay before embarrassing himself in front of Beau. Why was she trying to get to know him?

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"I - yeah I guess. It's been busy lately with all the shit weather." Looking over Marianne once more, and coming to the conclusion swiftly they're not fucking and he's out of luck wholly, he says after an awkward pause, "I don't remember what you do. What was it?"

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Klaus flushes as he suddenly finds Beau's arm slung around his shoulders and his smaller frame pulled against the man's body. He'd forgotten the other was a Gym leader for a time, and for a fleeting moment panic claws at this throat and a soft, strangled noise not unlike a whimper escapes his throat.

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Would Beau suddenly realise Klaus spent the darker hours of the night smuggling when he was bored? He knew Klaus worked at the lighthouse - surely it was a thought that could cross anyone's mind.

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"I went on a date last night," he says instead. That would shake Beau off his trail.

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The next moment he finds himself seated in a chair. Looking from it to Beau, his brow furrows minutely as he debates whether to help the man. Klaus was decent in the kitchen but he couldn't say he enjoyed cooking.

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Suddenly he pipes up in clarification, "It was bad. The date. Not - not this."

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Klaus's sour mood flees in place of uncertainty as the door rattles and then opens. His own mouth opening to speak, his words clog in his throat as he finally spies Beau after more than a year away. He tries, and wholly fails, not to look from Beau's face to his broad chest, and then clears his throat with a strangled cough.
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"Right. It's nice to see you. Or whatever."
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Slowly moving past Beau as if the man might bite him - and wouldn't that be a dream come true? - Klaus peers around the apartment as he takes in its sights for the first time. "This is nice," he says lamely, uncertain what to say. It's much cleaner than his own room on the lighthouse's grounds at least.
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"I brought a movie. For us to watch. Together." Klaus offers the DVD to Beau without quite looking at him - instead distracted by what he's fairly certain is a photo of Beau shirtless.

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The hope to blow off some steam before whatever this will be leaves Klaus feeling unhinged at best, but still slinks over to Beau's apartment the morning after his date with Marianne Lovelace. Hands shoved deep in his hoodie, he fidgets with a DVD containing the horror movie The Sadness and a small pokeball brought all the way from Kalos.
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At the very least it would be movie Klaus had enjoyed. Whether Beau would was wholly up in the air.
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The weather has turned stormy by the time he knocks on Beau's door - much like the night they made plans to meet. With a crack of lightning and rumble of thunder when the door opens, Klaus utters a timid, "Hey," as he's met with the sight of Beau

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